Most blogs resemble the format of a printed newspaper. Articles strung one after another into a long vertical strip. If an article is too long, there's a "continued on page.." sort of link to the rest of the post. If there were comments, there would be a link to this area as well.

It's interesting that this format was born in the page layout of the print newspaper, where there is a predefined limit to the size of the page, number of columns, where to put the continued stories, and you get the idea. I think that this default format, like Topsy, just sort of grew to its present form without any real planning. More thought was given to widgets, trackbacks, and other gewgaws than to architecture and design.

There are problems with this format. And I'll have more to say in future entries.

The web doesn't need this model as it doesn't have the same physical limitations.

This journal incorporates a new format for presenting this sort of information.

Instead of a long string of items in a vertical strip, every entry/article is on a page by itself. The page contains the complete article with all of its illustrations. The comments and other ancillary items can optionally appear at the end of the article. The page stands as one complete unit. You can read it from start to finish without jumping around.

Blogs have this now, but it's not their main interface. It's still the vertical strip of items, with links to the complete version.

I see this blog as a set of pages that you can flip through, just like the pages in an art book or recipe book. But unlike a printed book, the pages here can be of any length. As you flip through this blog, you will see each page appear in the browser by itself, title in the same place, and a good part of the article in view.

There will be several means of navigation here.

You can flip through the pages using the buttons at the right side of the window. They show the date of the page being viewed and let you flip pages in either direction. (My son said to put the buttons in the center of the screen. The Hobbitt says to put the buttons on the right side, instead of on top of the content. So far, the Hobbitt is winning. Any suggestions from the reader are welcome.)

The nice thing is that the buttons are generated in such a way that they can easily be moved around the page and, in addition, there can be as many of these "navbars" as I want on the page. So I will experiment with their placement, perhaps putting another set at the bottom of the page so you don't have to scroll back to the to flip the page.

I think that flipping through pages is faster and easier than scrolling down a page, trying to decide where the next post begins.

The other forms of navigation will be through a list of recent items and a calendar. You will also be able to see a list of articles based on a search, or by subject. Some of this will be added in the near future.

I think that this is a model that is easier to navigate and easier to understand. It exists in just one form - as one item/article/post/thought/rant per page.

Update: Buttons are gone, replaced with links, all lined up with the post's title, off to the right.

Another update. The blog is now parameterized with a simple file that can be modified in any text editor program. When the Hobbitt asked for a blog of her own, it took less than ten minutes to customize and set it up for her.